Island



(No Model.)

S. M. ORETEAU.

SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE.-

No. 493,399. Patented Mar. 14, 1893.

INVENTO-l? 9.03% 1 B Y 14 g) 930 7x22249431 ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN M. ORETEAU, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO GEORGE H. WILLIAMSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SEWING-MACHINE NEEDLE.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 493,399, dated March l l, 1893.

Application filed October 14. 1892.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN M. CRETEAU, of the city and county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sewing-Machine Needles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The invention relates to the class of sewing machine needles in which two parallel members proceed vertically from the eye of the needle, and its object is to provide a needle of simple construction, in which the threading of the eye is instantly accomplished with but a single action and also in which one of the members acts not only as a guide to direct the thread in its course to the eye but also serves as a guard and retainer for the thread after the latter has reached the eye.

The invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter described and claimed.

Referenceis to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the needle embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the needle showing the same in position to be threaded. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the needle with the thread in the position shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the needle showing the thread inserted in the eye.

The main member of the needle may have any necessary contour at its upper end 10, dependent upon the character of the sewing machine to which it is to be applied and may be of any requisite length; At the base of the part 10, the body of the needle is tapered as at 10 and merges into the reduced portion 10 which is pointed in the usual manner at its lower end.

Integral with the portion 10 of the needle and proceeding upwardly parallel therewith is the member 11, which member has aspring action, and the eye 12, of the needle is formed in part in each of the members of the needle near their point of junction.

To prevent lateral movement of the spring member 11, when the needle is in use the upper end of the said spring member is split and forked to form arms 13, as shown best in Serial No. 448.799. (No model.)

Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, the arms thus formed diverging at either side of the upper part of the main member of the needle, as shown at 10, these parts or arms 13, practically embracing the main stem of said needle. Said arms 13 are bent outward and upward from the member 11, and thence curved inward in the direction of the main member of the needle and their extremities are curved slightly downward and project slightly beyond the main member. These arms when the member 11 is in normal position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; besides having the function of preventing any lateral movement of the member 11, act as a guard and retainer for the thread when the needle is in use. A further function of the arms 13, is that they guide the thread into the slot intervening the two members of the needles and leading to the eye 12, and in this service they act instantly as will presently appear and without necessitating the manipulation of any device supplementary to the needle.

The operation of threading the needle is as follows: The operator takes the thread in both hands, pressesit firmly against the main member of the needle above the forked arms and lowers or slides the thread downward to the said arms, which arms gently move backward and thus permit the thread to pass between the two members of the needle to the eye near the base, the action of the spring member restoring it to its normal position when the thread has passed the arms, and again when the said thread enters the eye of the needle.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A sewing machine needle, consisting of a main stationary member and a parallel spring member integral with the stationary member, the upper end of the spring member having diverging arms, which arms are bent upward and outward and thence curved inward and downward and embracing the main member near its upper end, substantially as shown and described and for the purpose set forth.

STEPHEN M. ORETEAU.

Witnesses:

EMIL OKLER, FRANK O. OSMERS. 

